pluto.tv: ads / breakage

[cglong]

Prerequisites

• This is not a support issue or a question
• I performed a cursory search of the issue tracker to avoid opening a duplicate issue
• I am running the latest version of uBlock Origin

I tried to reproduce the issue when...

• uBO is the only extension
• uBO with default lists/settings
• using a new, unmodified browser profile

URL(s) where the issue occurs

https://pluto.tv/en/on-demand/movies/the-matrix-1991-1-1

Describe the issue

When watching the video, ads are injected into the stream and (usually) disable pause/fast-forward controls. They appear to be added after the video starts (because the total runtime increases shortly after loading and is variable depending on where the video starts playing).

Screenshot(s)

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/137214/129507295-46ba0d57-bca3-4dae-9831-5e0a435a9b63.png

uBlock Origin version

1.37.2

Browser name and version

Chrome 92.0.4515.131

Settings

None

Notes

No response

[uBlock-user]

We can block the ads, but the video will not begin playing untill the ads are stitched inside the video

[uBlock-user]

Should be fixed with AdGuard's $replace -- AdguardTeam/AdguardFilters@c17ecc5 where it's supported(except Chrome)

[uBlock-user]

Closing for #1905 (comment)

[cglong]

Great, thank you for the fast and thorough investigation @uBlock-user! 🙂

[stephenhawk8054]

A bit information is pluto ads can appear sporadically (not every refresh has ads) and the ads often occur in the middle of the video.

But currently xml-prune does not quite work yet (or at least last time I checked) I don't know why: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-discussions/discussions/792#discussioncomment-6536598

[mapx-]

https://pluto.tv/es/on-demand/series/agatha-christie-poirot-es/episode/el-caso-del-testamento-desaparecido-1992-5-504

• it needs spanish ip
• the mpd file contains 2 types of (ad)url:

https://siloh-cf.pluto.tv/221_Pluto_TV_OandO/clip/6008abe064d9910007599975_PlutoTV_Ad_Bumpers_New_Brand_2020_ESP/720p/20220407_150851/dash/
https://siloh-cf.pluto.tv/51_30_ad/creative/65317f64cc9eee17865031db_ad/720p/20231019_191132/dash/

• I added (only for _ad):

pluto.tv##+js(xml-prune, xpath(//*[name()="Period"][.//*[name()="BaseURL" and contains(text()\,'_ad')]]), ,.mpd, log, 1)

I'm not sure if matches or not, I get an error in console (executing the scriptlet):

@gorhill

[gorhill]

That is a site error, it tries to fetch using an invalid URL, "https://undefined/infinity/session/start?sessionRoot=undefined&sessionId=undefined&accountCode=plutotvdev&timemark=1698258644915", the scriptlet just delegates to the browser at that point, and the browser throws because of the invalid URL.

[gorhill]

If you ignore the errors from the site, I do see the scriptlet doing stuff as per console:

[stephenhawk8054]

@mapx- If I'm not mistaken, the scriptlet can log elements removed successfully in the console but the ads will still be there when navigating to the ads timer. I'm not sure how it behaves now, you can check it again.

[mapx-]

I see in console

[uBO] xmlPrune: removing 3 items
[uBO] xmlPrune: Element.Period removed

but ... still an ad sequence after some minutes

[stephenhawk8054]

@mapx- If you remove the whole Period sections (without any xpath), do the video still play on your side? Mine was still playing normally.

[mapx-]

mmhmm, meaning there is another way the ads slips in ?

[stephenhawk8054]

Yeah, that's what I was stuck with this case. Not sure if there's something else happening or the .mpd response is cached/cloned somewhere.

[mapx-]

or simply is all stitched in - not controlled by m3u8 / mpd ways

However, it's some control => during the ads you cannot pause the stream

[mapx-]

Rather than dynamic ad calls triggered by the ad breaks on a consumer’s device, SSAI stitches together the entire video stream with ads before the consumer sees it, so there’s pretty much no ad-serving flexibility throughout an on-demand stream.

https://www.adexchanger.com/ctv-roundup/pluto-tvs-ad-insertion-tech-has-a-frequency-problem/

[mapx-]

However, if I add

pluto.tv##+js(no-xhr-if, /_Ad_|_ad/)

I see that message (you cannot stop the stream during the ads) but the real video is running

[mapx-]

@DefconTwo

test:

pluto.tv##+js(xml-prune, xpath(//*[name()="Period"][.//*[name()="BaseURL" and (contains(text()\,'_ad') or contains(text()\,'_Ad_'))]]), ,.mpd)
pluto.tv##+js(no-xhr-if, /_Ad_|_ad/)

[Residentcl]

Hi. any update on video advertising?

[stephenhawk8054]

@Residentcl Can you give exact links where you see the issue, and at which time did you see the ads? Also which country are you when accessing the site?

[Residentcl]

https://pluto.tv/latam/on-demand/series/65f471e8ea323e0013229abc/episode/65f471fcea323e0013229f92?lang=en
every 10 minutes on average.
From: Chile.
I'll make a more detailed report on this tomorrow....

[mapx-]

using a chilean vpn:

¡Ay no! Quizá estés usando un VPN o proxy
Para continuar viendo, desactive cualquiera de estos servicios e inténtelo de nuevo.
¿Tiene preguntas? Por favor, visite nuestra página de Soporte en https://support.pluto.tv

Oh no! You may be using a VPN or proxy. To continue watching, please disable any of these services and try again. Have questions? Please visit our Support page https://support.pluto.tv

[Residentcl]

Here is a short video with one of the 2 problems,
in this one the advertisement does not appear, but it has some kind of problem.

Youtube deleted video.

also a log with the requests:
log.txt

If you tell me how I can add more information to see the problem, tell me how to do it.

[stephenhawk8054]

@Residentcl Can you add this filter and get the log again?

@@||a-fds.youborafds01.com/data?$xhr,domain=pluto.tv

[Residentcl]

Solved. Thanks!
I'll see if the other problem comes up and make the report.